The Causation of Crime: a Study on Biological Factors
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IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 20, Issue 11, Ver. III (Nov. 2015) PP 01-06 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org The Causation of Crime: A Study on Biological Factors Md. Gajiur Rahman, Lecturer, Department of law, Northern University Bangladesh. Abstract: This paper aims to describe crime & analyze the biological reasons behind commission of crime. Preference is given to describe various defective organs of human body & some hereditary defectiveness which are liable for the commission of offences. The paper, furthermore, describe about remarkable theories on the topic. Its principal object is to establish a concept that biological abnormalities in human body also play contributory role along with psychological & environmental factors in the commission of crime. Keywords: Crime, Causation, theories, Biological factors, Psychology, Motive etc. I. Introduction The history of committing crime is not recent. From the dawn of civilization, it is evident that man commits crime for getting their targeting fruit by any means. In early times, the concept of crime was unknown to the society. Men didn‟t have the legal sense. They failed to make a distinction between right & wrong. There was a general belief that man was by nature simple & his actions were controlled by some super natural power. They believed their society as innocent. But with the development of social, Psychological, biological & behavor science, the oldest concept of causation of crime is proved false. Now intention, motive, preparation, attempt, execution are considered & everyone is liable for his wrongful act in where facts & circumstances are considered. Some criminologist suggests that man is not criminal but they are, sometimes, bound to commit crime for social disorder like poverty, family breakdown, and unemployment etc. & at the same time, there are some hidden biological & psychological factors by virtue of which they proceed towards crime in spite of their unwillingness. Most of the people having criminal tendency can‟t imagine at all that they commit crime for their internal physical & mental defectiveness in addition to social reasons. So, firstly, this paper aims at presenting the concept of crime, finding out latent physical factors which are liable to crime & establishes a concept that crime should be held as social maladies rather than crime in the true sense. II. Historical Concept Of Crime Historical concept of crime is based on superstition. Primarily crime was meant as activities against religious law or certain social norms, belief, custom & tradition of the society. This meant that little attention was devoted to the motive, environment & psychology of the offender in the causation of crime. Moreover, punishments were often haphazard, arbitrary & irrational as there was no definite principle for the guidance of those who were involved with the criminal justice of administration. Man used to believe that human conduct was controlled by some supernatural power. It was generally believed that a man committed crime due to the influence of some external spirit called demon or devil. Thus, an offender committed a wrongful act not because of his free will but due to the influence of some external power (Dr.N.V.Paranjape, 2005). So, there was absence of attempt to prove into the real cause of crime. Only worship, sacrifices & ordeal by trial were usually prescribed to specify the spirit & relieve the victim from its evil influence. According to Dharamsastra writer, ordeal was a living institution in India. Epigraphic & legal records showed that ordeals were practiced strictly according to Dharamshastra rules since time immemorial in the Indian history. Ancient writers have referred to the ordeals as divine methods with various names such as Samayakriya, Sapatha, Divya, or Pariksa. Ordeals were treated as divine means of proof about guilt or innocence of the accused. The two important aspects of the ordeals were: (i) they indicated the divine aspects of trial, and (ii) the basic idea underlying this method of trial was the need of divine intervention at the crucial moment in dispensing justice. Thus ordeal was an antique institution, a deep rooted custom, practiced by the people in ancient India. Yajnavlkya mentions five kinds of ordeals- Balance, Fire, Water, and Poison & Kosa. In the balance ordeal, the accused was weighed against a stone & if the latter was lighter, the charge was considered as false, but if it was otherwise, the charge stood proved. The Fire ordeal consisted of main four forms, namely, (i) going through nine circles with red-hot iron- ball in hand; (ii) walking over burning fire, (iii) lifting up a piece of iron from boiling oil; (iv) licking the red-hot iron bar with tongue. In water ordeal, the accused was brought to a deep & rapidly flowing river or a deep well with such water. Then he was to speak to the water; “since thou belongest to the pure angels & knowest both what are secret & the public, kill me if I lie & angels preserve me if I speak the truth; then five men took the DOI: 10.9790/0837-201130106 www.iosrjournals.org 1 | Page The Causation of Crime: A Study on Biological Factors accused & threw him into the water. If he was not guilty, he would not drawn or die”. The poison ordeal was also used as a method of investigation. The accused was made to eat the poison & take out a living black serpent from a pot. If he survived harmless, he was supposed to be innocent otherwise he would be deemed guilty. The Kosa form of ordeal had universal application. The accused was taken to the temple. Then the priest poured water over the deity (idol) & this holy water was given to the accused for drinking. If he was guilty or false, he would at once vomit blood (S.N Dr. Pendse 1985). However, historically the concept of crime seems to have always been changing with the variations of social conditions during the evolutionary stages of human society. This can be illustrated by the fact that early English society during 12th & 13th centuries included only those acts as crimes which were committed against the state or religion. Thus, treason, rape & blasphemy were treated as crime whereas murder was not a crime. Ancient societies failed to distinguish between the law of crime & torts but recognized only law of wrongs. Almost all wrongs were repressible subject to providing compensation to the victim. Even private vengeance was recognized prior to the tenth century where recourse to the legal remedy was considered as merely an optional alternative to self-redress (Dr.N.V.Paranjape, 2005). III. Modern Concept Of Crime Presently, the concept of crime is more practical & completely opposite to the thinking of primitive societies. Recent concept of crime starts to develop from the „boltless‟ offences which are increased considerablely after 12th century. Boltless offences are those for which no amount of compensation can wipe out the guilt & the wrong doer has to undergo punishment though there are other offences in where bolt (payment of compensation to the victim) is recognized & offences which entitles wite (additional fines) payable to the king. In fact, the sense of crime is originated from the boltless offence & civil wrongs atoned with bolt (Dr.N.V.Paranjape, 2005). However, in modern times, intention, motive, malice, facts & circumstances are considered for considering an act as offence. In addition to that the grievance of offence is measured after considering certain factors like commission or omission, attempt, preparation, execution etc. Mens rea or criminal intent is the pre-condition of a crime. That‟s why, if a person takes a moveable property of another person mistakenly, it is not a theft. Again, for being a crime, there must be commission or omission of an act. Mere conspiracy without taking any subsequent action can‟t be treated as offence. Moreover, motive is an element of every crime divided into two parts namely-good motive & bad motive. Bad motive is called malice which implies the offensive purpose of criminals. In some circumstances, a person commits crime with good motive. For example, if a man commits theft for the first time with the intention of feeding his hungry children, it is clear that there is good motive. Here commission of theft is crime but facts & circumstances are considered to reduce the punishment of the offender. In addition to, several stages are taken into judicial consideration to determine the grievances of offences. Suppose a person intents to kill his neighbor with a motive to possess neighbor‟s land illegally. That person buys a pistol & manage visa to go abroad so that he can escape easily after committing murder. In a morning, he fires at his neighbor but failed to kill him. All actions till conducting of trigger of pistol are preparation. Attempt comes after the stage of preparation. If the person becomes successful to kill him, it amounts to execution. So, the degree of grievances of crime varies in different stages & punishment follows accordingly. It is worth mentioning that there must be violation of state penal law in where punishment is awarded for offences. IV. Biological Approach Biological drawbacks of a person play a contributory role for committing offence. From ancient time, eminent jurists have been trying to find out the hidden biological factors which lead to the commission of crime. Although criminologists varies in their opinions in their research but they show remarkable success to the development of biological approach of causation of crime. All human bodies are not same in their structure. A man having good physical structure possesses less criminal tendency into mind whereas this tendency can be found in a man having defective physical structure. A particular organ of human body implies a specific tendency of crime.